He reached out and clasped her hand. "Sorry, Martha. You're right. But we still have that question to answer. Who are 'they'—the 'they' who took Lee? Are they the Brotherhood of Atonement? Or somebody else? Who else would have any motive?"
His head suddenly swayed drunkenly, and he brushed his hand across his eyes. Martha uttered a little cry of distress.
"Jay, you're still not over it—the blow I gave you. Here, let me make fresh compresses."
He held her back. "No, Martha, it's not that. I'm just out, dead tired. Since I reached Earth on this mission, I've had it—and only a few hours sleep in my car, last night."
She took his wrist. "Then you're going to sleep right now. I'll keep watch. This way—I have to put the light out when we leave the kitchen—"
Wales, following her through the dark house, felt that he was three parts asleep by the time he reached the bedroom to which she led him. His head still ached, and the headache and the exhaustion came up over him like a drowning wave.
When he woke, afternoon sunlight was slanting into the dusty bedroom. He turned, and discovered that Martha sat in a chair beside the bed, her hands folded, looking at him.
She said, "I wasn't sleepy. And it's been so long since I've had anyone—"
She stopped, faintly embarrassed. Wales sat up, and reached and kissed her. She clung to him, for a moment.
Then she drew back. "Just propinquity," she said. "You would never even look at me, in the old days."